Conventionally, when a user transfers data such as files or setup data required for the network-connected equipment from a server on the network to the network-connected equipment such as a printer or a FAX machine, which does not have a user interface sufficient for operating a web browser such as a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse, so that processing is performed by the network-connected equipment, the user accesses the server by using some kind of means, such as by transmitting a request from client equipment having a user interface, such as a personal computer, and the server side accesses the network-connected equipment by a protocol such as a trivial file transfer protocol (TFTP) or a file transfer protocol (FTP), to transfer the data.
However, only when the server on the network can directly access the network-connected equipment by using these protocols, the data can be transferred to the network-connected equipment by these means.
Particularly, when data is transferred from the server on the Internet other than the firewall to the network-connected equipment connected to the Intranet in the firewall by using the TFTP or the FTP, access by these protocols from outside the firewall is in many cases not permitted for security reasons. Therefore, there is a problem in that the access from the server outside the firewall with respect to the network-connected equipment connected to the Intranet is rejected, and data cannot be transferred.
There is disclosed a conventional technique in which setup data is transferred to the network-connected equipment having no user interface from the server on the network by using the TFTP to perform setup (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-165407).
When the user transfers data such as necessary files and setup data to the network-connected equipment, which does not have a user interface sufficient for operating a web browser, such as a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse, so that processing is performed, conventionally, the data is once transferred from a data recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM) attached to the network-connected equipment to a setting personal computer, and then the data is transferred to the network-connected equipment.
However, when the data is transferred to the network-connected equipment by such means, since the data is once stored in the setting personal computer, and then transferred to the network equipment, it takes time to transfer-data.
When the data for the network-connected equipment is transferred from the server on the network, if the data is updated by an administrator of the server, the updated data can be transferred at any time. However, the data stored in the data recording medium attached to the network-connected equipment is not updated, and hence, there is a problem in that the data becomes out-dated.
When the user transfers files, setup data, and the like required for the network-connected equipment so as to be processed, with respect to the network-connected equipment, which does not have a user interface sufficient for operating the web browser, such as a screen, a keyboard, and a mouse, conventionally, the user accesses the server on the network by using the setting personal computer, once transfers the data from the server on the network to the setting personal computer, and then transfers the data to the network-connected equipment.
However, when the data is transferred to the network-connected equipment by such means, since the data is once stored in the setting personal computer, and then transferred to the network-connected equipment, it takes time to transfer-data.
The present invention has been achieved in order to solve the above problems in the conventional technique. It is an object of the present invention to provide a network data-transfer method that can easily transfer-data from the server on the network to the network-connected equipment having no user interface so as to perform processing, and particularly, that can easily transfer-data to the network-connected equipment having no user interface, so as to perform processing, even when a firewall is set up.